MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Next of kin plan 800 visitors for Memorial ceremony

Relatives of the Argentine servicemen killed during the Falkland Islands conflict are expecting 700 to 800 people to be present next March at the inauguration of the Memorial to be built in the Argentine cemetery in Darwin, according to a report in the Argentine press.

The Committee of next of kin of (servicemen) fallen in Malvinas is planning one relative for each Argentine killed in the 1982 conflict (649) plus some war veterans and special guests, among them Eduardo Eunerkian the Argentine businessman who is financing most of the Memorial to be shipped early February to the Falklands.

Leandro De la Colina the treasurer of the Committee said they are requesting financing from the government and private sources for the transport and accommodation of the visiting party, a sum estimated in 170,000 US dollars.

The Memorial built in Argentina in granite and concrete blocks with a total weight over 200 tons will be assembled by a local Falklands company and should be finished and delivered sometime late March. However no official inauguration date has yet been scheduled.

The over a million dollar Memorial project is financed by Mr. Eurnekian the main shareholder of Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 a company that manages most Argentine airports and since last December Carrasco airport in Montevideo.

The Argentine press article underlines that having all those people visit the Falklands, even for a day, means air and land transportation, passport stamping, food and other facilities. "All expenses in pesos but also in pounds".

However not much is said about the logistics of such an operation besides the fact that 800 Argentines are equivalent to a third of the entire Falklands population.